Serving Fort Collins
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Fort Collins, CO
Basement seepage, failed sumps, and hydrostatic pressure against the foundation are extracted and dried, and the path from the ground is identified so the loss does not repeat. Groundwater and basement seepage are extracted and dried only after the path from the soil is identified — a wall, a slab, a drain, or a failed sump. Drying the interior without stopping that path returns the same water to the same floor.
Frequently asked questions
There is a ditch running past our property.
It is worth knowing who operates it and when it runs. These carry water on a delivery schedule through the growing season, so a ditch at capacity will not accept runoff from your lot, and seepage from an unlined one raises the groundwater alongside it. That produces damp ground in dry weather, which sends people hunting for a plumbing leak that does not exist.
The gauge in town read almost nothing and the canyon ran hard.
The mountains are the explanation. A storm stalling against the range delivers far more rain than falls in town and sends it down the canyon within a short time, so the local gauge is a poor guide to what is arriving. Watching what is developing over the mountains gives far better warning than the reading on your own roof, and the difference can be several hours.
Should sprinklers run near the foundation?
Not close to it, and this is among the few near-universal pieces of advice along this range. These soils swell when wetted and foundations are built assuming the backfill stays relatively dry, so irrigation against a wall keeps that ground wet continuously rather than occasionally. Moving heads back several feet and extending downspouts well clear costs almost nothing and does more than most structural work.
Read it with the local conditions on the Fort Collins page.